FineCat : a meeting fostering progress in frontier research and sustainable development from and within Sicily

Scientific meetings on topics of socioeconomic and environmental global relevance such as the \u201cFineCat Symposium on heterogeneous catalysis for fine chemicals\u201d held in Sicily between 2012 and 2017 may actively promote sustainable development and progress in frontier research from and within developing areas of the world

C4BQ0: a genetic marker of familial HCV-related liver cirrhosis.

Source Department of Medicine and Pneumology, V Cervello Hospital, Via Trabucco 180, 90146 Palermo, Italy. [email protected] Abstract BACKGROUND AND METHODS: Host may have a role in the evolution of chronic HCV liver disease. We performed two cross-sectional prospective studies to evaluate the prevalence of cirrhosis in first degree relatives of patients with cirrhosis and the role of two major histocompatibility complex class III alleles BF and C4 versus HCV as risk factors for familial clustering. FINDINGS: Ninety-three (18.6%) of 500 patients with cirrhosis had at least one cirrhotic first degree relative as compared to 13 (2.6%) of 500 controls, (OR 7.38; CI 4.21-12.9). C4BQ0 was significantly more frequent in the 93 cirrhotic patients than in 93 cirrhotic controls without familiarity (Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium: chi2 5.76, P = 0.016) and in 20 families with versus 20 without aggregation of HCV related cirrhosis (29.2% versus 11.3%, P = 0.001); the association C4BQ0-HCV was found almost only in cirrhotic patients with a family history of liver cirrhosis. CONCLUSIONS: Our studies support the value of C4BQ0 as a risk indicator of familial HCV related cirrhosis

Economic and technical feasibility of betanin and pectin extraction from opuntia ficus-indica peel via microwave-assisted hydrodiffusion

Investigating the feasibility of betanin and pectin extraction from Opuntia ficus-indica peel via microwave-assisted hydrodiffusion and gravity, this study identifies selected important economic and technical aspects associated with this innovative production route starting from prickly pear fruit discards. Which benefits would be derived from this process? Would production be limited to Opuntia-growing countries or, likewise to what happens with dried lemon peel chiefly imported from Argentina, would production take place abroad also? Can distributed manufacturing based on clean extraction technology compete with centralized production using conventional chemical processes

Chandra Observation of Abell 2142: Survival of Dense Subcluster Cores in a Merger

We use Chandra data to map the gas temperature in the central region of the merging cluster A2142. The cluster is markedly nonisothermal; it appears that the central cooling flow has been disturbed but not destroyed by a merger. The X-ray image exhibits two sharp, bow-shaped, shock-like surface brightness edges or gas density discontinuities. However, temperature and pressure profiles across these edges indicate that these are not shock fronts. The pressure is reasonably continuous across these edges, while the entropy jumps in the opposite sense to that in a shock (i.e. the denser side of the edge has lower temperature, and hence lower entropy). Most plausibly, these edges delineate the dense subcluster cores that have survived a merger and ram pressure stripping by the surrounding shock-heated gas.Comment: Latex, 9 pages, 5 figures (including color), uses emulateapj.sty. Submitted to Ap

HNO Protects the Myocardium against Reperfusion Injury, Inhibiting the mPTP Opening via PKCε Activation

Donors of nitroxyl (HNO), the one electron-reduction product of nitric oxide (NO. ), posi-tively modulate cardiac contractility/relaxation while limiting ischemia-reperfusion (I/R) injury. The mechanisms underpinning HNO anti-ischemic effects remain poorly understood. Using isolated perfused rat hearts subjected to 30 min global ischemia/1 or 2 h reperfusion, here we tested whether, in analogy to NO., HNO protection requires PKCε translocation to mitochondria and KATP channels activation. To this end, we compared the benefits afforded by ischemic preconditioning (IPC; 3 cycles of I/R) with those eventually granted by the NO. donor, diethylamine/NO, DEA/NO, and two chemically unrelated HNO donors: Angeli’s salt (AS, a prototypic donor) and isopropyla-mine/NO (IPA/NO, a new HNO releaser). All donors were given for 19 min before I/R injury. In control I/R hearts (1 h reperfusion), infarct size (IS) measured via tetrazolium salt staining was 66 ± 5.5% of the area at risk. Both AS and IPA/NO were as effective as IPC in reducing IS [30.7 ± 2.2 (AS), 31 ± 2.9 (IPA/NO), and 31 ± 0.8 (IPC), respectively)], whereas DEA/NO was significantly less so (36.2 ± 2.6%, p < 0.001 vs. AS, IPA/NO, or IPC). IPA/NO protection was still present after 120 min of reperfusion, and the co-infusion with the PKCε inhibitor (PKCV1-2500 nM) prevented it (IS = 30 ± 0.5 vs. 61 ± 1.8% with IPA/NO alone, p < 0.01). Irrespective of the donor, HNO anti-ischemic effects were insensitive to the KATP channel inhibitor, 5-OH decanoate (5HD, 100 μM), that, in contrast, abrogated DEA/NO protection. Finally, both HNO donors markedly enhanced the mitochondrial permeability transition pore (mPTP) ROS threshold over control levels (≅35–40%), an action again insensitive to 5HD. Our study shows that HNO donors inhibit mPTP opening, thus limiting myo-cyte loss at reperfusion, a beneficial effect that requires PKCε translocation to the mitochondria but not mitochondrial K+ channels activation

Role of catestatin as such as slowly released by fibronectin-coated pharmacologically active microcarriers (Fn-Pam) in limiting hypoxicinduced cell death

Objectives: Catestatin (CST), a 21-amino acid derivate of Chromogranin A, exerts several biological functions, including inhibition of catecholamine release and cardioprotective role. Moreover positive effect of CST on monocyte migration in vitro and the induction of angiogenesis, arteriogenesis and vasculogenesis in the mouse hind limb ischemia model have been demonstrated. Collateral arteries may provide a biological bypass for occluded atherosclerotic vessels, increasing blood flow to ischemic tissue. In such a prospective, CST is a very promising agent for revascularization purposes, in “NO-OPTION” patients. However, proteins have a very short half-life after administration and must be conveniently protected. FN-PAMs, biodegradable and biocompatible polymeric microspheres, have ideal characteristic for this purpose: besides to convey peptides and allow in situ prolonged/controlled delivery, they may also convey cells on their biomimetic surface and may favor their survival and engraftment after cell transplantation. In this study, we show that CST can be incorporated within FN-PAM and aim to demonstrate that CST may be released in a slowly/prolonged manner by FN-PAM. We also aim to demonstrate that CST released by FN-PAM may reduce cell death under different stress conditions. Materials and methods: CST has to be precipitated to ensure its stability upon subsequent encapsulation. Protein precipitate is formed from aqueous solution by the addition of a watermiscible organic solvent. PLGA–P188–PLGA (triblock) copolymeric microspheres are prepared using solid/oil/water emulsion solvent evaporation–extraction technique. PAMs are coated with Fibronectin and characterized by Immunofluroscence (confocal microscopy). Mesenchymal stem cells (MSC) are exposed to hypoxia (72 h in 1–2%O2) and reoxygenation (6 h in 21% O2) in a hypoxic chamber with or without CTS, FN-PAMs or CTS-FN-PAMs. The protective effects of treatments are detected by MTT assay. Results: To define the optimum condition of nanoprecipitation we used an experimental design, modifying parameters influencing protein precipitation: ionic strength, mixing and centrifugation time. Nanoprecipitation of CST was found to be 72%. Controlled release of CST from CTS-FNPAM greatly limits hypoxic MSC death and enhances MSC survival in post-hypoxic environment. Conclusions: FN-PAMs are successfully formulated with CST. By an experimental design, we found optimal conditions to obtain a good CTS nanoprecipitation yield. MSC readily adhere to the FN-PAM and CST-FN-PAMs reduce MSC death enhancing survival in post-hypoxic environment. Data suggest that CST-FN-PAMs are promising tools for therapeutic purpose